Vietnam ESCAS fails to protect

More than 1,500 head of cattle and 99 buffalo from Australia have disappeared from approved feedlots or abattoirs in Vietnam over the past 13 months, according to a Federal Department of Agriculture report.The Dept has outline 2 critical, one major and one minor non-compliance. (See ABC report)

One incident shows CCTV cameras were tampered with before 644 head of cattle went missing from a feedlot. The feedlot owner denied any of the cattle were missing when first time exporter Purcell tried to verify their whereabouts, the owner was unable to provide any evidence. According to the ESCAS report, "the feedlot owner seemed to have complete disregard for ESCAS requirements despite verbal advice to the contrary".
In a separate incident, exporter Livestock Shipping Services (LSS) could not account for "nearly 1,000 animals" it shipped to Vietnam, which the company did not report to the department within the time period required under ESCAS rules.
Eventually, the company was able to track down where the animals went, determining that of the 872 cattle, 471 were traced to approved abattoirs and 401 died or were euthanased in feedlots. WOW....50% feedlot deaths.....ESCAS failure vs feedlot failure? Which is worse?

RSPCA stated that "Even though it is only a third of the size of the Indonesian market, it has three times the number of non-compliances over the last several years … that's a factor the Australian Government needs to take seriously," Mr Goodfellow said.

Once again, it is clear that no scheme an protect Australian cattle and sheep once they leave Australian shores.